# Adobe Photoshop API vs Placid API + MCP

> Adobe Photoshop API has a score of 44.1 (E) against Placid API + MCP's 43.2 (E). Both do design templates. The largest gap is schema & documentation, 36 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-05

Adobe Photoshop API has a score of 44.1 (E) against Placid API + MCP's 43.2 (E). Both do design templates. The largest gap is schema & documentation, 36 points.

- Adobe Photoshop API: grade E, 44.1/100, rank #405 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/adobe-photoshop-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/adobe-photoshop-api.json
- Placid API + MCP: grade E, 43.2/100, rank #409 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/placid.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/placid.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Adobe Photoshop API for schema & documentation (+36), security & auth (+28), maintenance & community (+35).

Pick Placid API + MCP for reliability (+20), payments & pricing (+35).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Adobe Photoshop API | Placid API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 55 | 75 | Placid API + MCP +20 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 34 | Adobe Photoshop API +36 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 36 | 40 | Placid API + MCP +4 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 62 | 34 | Adobe Photoshop API +28 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 0 | 35 | Placid API + MCP +35 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 42 | 7 | Adobe Photoshop API +35 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 60 | Adobe Photoshop API +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **44.1 · E** | **43.2 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Adobe Photoshop API | Placid API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Adobe | Placid |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://photoshop-api.adobe.io` | `https://api.placid.app/api/rest` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | none |
| Tools exposed | none | none |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-08 | none |
| Popularity | 498 npm/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 1.5/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Adobe Photoshop API.** Edits real PSDs, including text layers, smart objects, layer effects, groups and artboards. Enterprise contract only. No self-serve sign-up, free tier or public price.

**Placid API + MCP.** Hyperping status page with separate App and API components and 90-day history. No OpenAPI, no llms.txt, and the MCP tool list isn't published.

## Before you call either

### Adobe Photoshop API

1. Call v2 paths on photoshop-api.adobe.io. Remove background and its status live on image.adobe.io
2. Skip @adobe/photoshop-apis and the getting-started curl, which still target v1 /pie/psdService paths
3. Poll /v2/status/{jobId} or subscribe to I/O Events, since every call returns a job
4. Retry only 5xx and 429, using retry-after and at most three attempts
5. Cache the IMS token and refresh it before 24 hours run out

### Placid API + MCP

1. Send the token in the `Authorization` header, not as ?api_token=, wherever the client allows it
2. Read X-RateLimit-Remaining and wait for X-RateLimit-Reset after a 429
3. Use test mode for watermarked previews while matching layer names, then switch to live renders
4. Leave create_now off for batches, since it caps at 10 at once and may fail under load
5. Poll the returned polling_url or pass webhook_success, since images start as queued

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